Myths Reawakened

Meditation room, cathedral.

The circular roof was a giant rose window, rendering light in different colors and casting dappled spots on the floor to paint a dreamy picture, creating the illusion of weightlessness. On the wall was a one-man-tall white cross. The colorful lights never reached it, leaving it pure white.

Mona remained in the center of the meditation room, surrounded by a complex, esoteric holy light circle beneath her feet. Awash in light, she felt like her heart had been purified, and the presence of the devilish man had left.

Atori had sought out help from Archbishop Gunther. The two men stood outside the circle of holy light. Atori handed her a chalice full of holy water and smiled at her encouragingly.

Archbishop Gunther appeared to be a middle-aged man with a fair face and no beard, when in truth he was older than Atori. Although both were Gold-rank mages, Atori had fought too many battles when he was young with reckless abandon; with a fearlessness to injury and death due to his holy magic, he often confronted numerous enemies on his own as if he were playing a hack-and-slash game.

Now that he was older, all the hidden damage his body had taken accelerated his aging. Though he could still face multiple enemies on his own, he wasn’t as agile as he had been when he was young. He had been considering transferring to office work.

At the same time, Atori had become much less cantankerous. Despite his authoritative appearance, he was quite soft-hearted, especially to his subordinates, taking care of them like a loving father. On the other hand, Archbishop Gunther was a man of principles, going from a pushover to a stubborn old man.

Time was the most ruthless sculptor, turning an office worker into a cold-hearted leader and a warrior on the battlefield into a man who was only hardened in appearance.

Mona took holy water into her mouth and looked at her two leaders respectfully. Archbishop Gunther nodded, activating the magic circle. Holy light spread like waves of fog, morphing into white bands to wrap Mona from head to toes. The cross on the wall projected light and shadow right onto her back.

Mona felt her mind relax, her thoughts liberated. A white band slowly unfurled, expressing her thinking in texts and pictures.

To avoid alerting their enemy or missing important information, Gunther hadn’t dispersed the thoughts planted in her. He asked, “Who’s your attacker and which demon does he follow?”

The band showed a faceless portrait, followed by a line of text: “He used Blood Magic, originally following the Lord of Blood. While I pursued him, however, he encountered another powerful demon and had his thoughts reshaped by him. The man’s name is now Bruce, and his faith has changed.”

Wayne’s hand chop wasn’t powerful enough to knock her out completely, so she vaguely heard the Thousand-Eyed Demon’s voice. Her clearest memory was when he was groping her.

She didn’t mention that, considering it her bad luck. She explained how Bruce had had his thoughts violently twisted by the Thousand-Eyed Demon and had been converted into the demon’s minion, forced to abandon his original faith.

The Thousand-Eyed Demon!

Atori and Gunther exchanged a glance, seeing the same speculation in each other’s eyes. They had received information from Cambrook County about the descent of the Thousand-Eyed Demon, and he even stole many treasures from Saint Dominic’s Cathedral, including the Holy Shroud.

Their enemy had turned out to be an actual demon rather than a demon’s follower. Gunther continued to ask questions with a grave expression.

The bands manifested Mona’s responses. When there were parts that were difficult to express, pictures were created. “The demon hid underground in the city, but the entrance isn’t in the sewer system. It is one or multiple ancient, abandoned cities that could only be accessed through portals.”

“Cities projected from hell,” Atori murmured, his expression darkening as well. “The demon has projected his territory to the mortal realm.”

The Thousand-Eyed Demon’s descent had been a great success largely thanks to the Holy Shroud. He was thus able to tap into more of his power. While he wasn’t as terrifyingly strong as he was in hell, he was much stronger than he would’ve been had he descended normally.

Mona continued with her explanation: “Bruce was controlled by the demon, who gave him a mission. He ordered me to search Londan for...”

“I saw the alchemy circle in the Seventh Forbidden Book before. It requires the corpses of six hundred and sixty-six cultists. Once stitched into a corpse fiend, the gateway to hell will emerge in its chest...”

“Bruce ordered me to compile a list of sixty-six...”

“He gave me two orders: not to commit suicide and not to tell anyone about him...”

But you did!

Atori and Gunther exchanged a look. Their enemy didn’t seem that bright. If it wasn’t because of a problem with his intelligence, it had to mean that they were missing something.

“His thoughts are corrupted,” Atori said. “It’s not unreasonable that he’d make a mistake like that.”

“Perhaps...” Gunther wasn’t convinced. He followed up with another question, “What else do you know about the demon?”

“The demon has gathered a large group of dark mages in the underground ancient city. A leader of theirs, named Geoff, explained to Bruce when recruiting him that the demon was preparing a great scheme that would wipe out all of our people in Londan if successful.”

Atori’s eyes glinted with golden light, while Gunther frowned once more. The information was so detailed that it felt like he had been right there, getting all the information as soon as the demon made the orders.

It didn’t make sense. It was too suspicious in many ways!

Gunther could say for certain that there was more to Bruce, the cultist. He was the reason Mona was able to bring the information back to them alive, and he was very likely doing it on purpose.

Gunther wasn’t naive enough to trust a cultist’s heart. Besides, the fact that Bruce could use Blood Magic meant that the Blood Tyrant had made a heavy investment in him. He couldn’t be a simple follower.

He had to have allowed Mona to relay the information for one of the two reasons: first, Bruce wasn’t controlled by the Thousand-Eyed Demon and was trying to lead the church to eliminate the demon.

What a devilish plan!

Second, Bruce had fallen completely under the Thousand-Eyed Demon’s control, and it was the demon’s order to have Mona return to the church to distract them and lower their guard. He had a more terrible plan.

The second possibility would be devilish as well, but it was flawed. Gunther didn’t think the demon’s effort was worth it when he could see through the misdirection attempt immediately.

Well, it could be reverse psychology; the demon could’ve foreseen that Gunther would see through the distraction.

“Archbishop, Bruce asked me to give him a list and meet him at my apartment in the Western District at eleven tonight.” The band manifested Mona’s words. After that, she sighed in relief.

“I’ll show you tonight!”

“If you dare to touch my ass, I’ll cut your hand off!”

Atori and Gunther silently read her thoughts. The child had suffered much. They would compensate her later.

Atori broke the awkward silence. “Gunther, we’ve gathered enough information. Release her and disperse the evil thoughts. She shouldn’t be suffering further.”

“No, we have far from enough information.” Gunther shook his head. “The portals, for example. The Thousand-Eyed Demon still has the upper hand.”

“What do you mean?” Atori’s chest tightened. He had a bad feeling about this.

“I need Mona to continue undercover.”